Conventional workbenches generally comprise a table provided with a vise for holding a workpiece. The vise generally has a pair of jaws having two parallel surfaces opposed to each other and is normally suitable for clamping therebetween a workpiece having a regular shape, such as rectangular or square shape. However, for a workpiece having an irregular shape, such conventional workbenches cannot be used satisfactorily. For an elongated, tapered workpiece a number of workbenches have been offered such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,841,619; 4,034,684; 4,127,260; 4,140,309; 4,154,435; 4,155,386; 4,157,174; 4,159,821 and 4,169,606; however, the workbences disclosed in these patents are only good for clamping an elongated, tapered workpiece. These workbenches are minimally useful for clamping an irregularly shaped workpiece such as a toy hand tool, picture frame, sports equipment and the like.
In view of the aforesaid problems with conventional workbenches, the present invention offers a novel workbench having a pair of vise assemblies mounted on a frame, wherein each vise assembly is provided with a movable jaw capable of swivelling and also moving towards and away from a fixed jaw, to facilitate clamping of an irregularly shaped workpiece. One of the pair of vise assemblies is fixedly mounted on the frame while the other is slidably mounted and arranged parallel to the fixed vise assembly. An operating device is provided to the movable vise assembly for moving the movable vise assembly towards and away from the fixed vise assembly in a direction generally perpendicular to the direction of the movement of the movable jaw, so as to give a wide range of adaptability as to the size and shape of the workpiece to be clamped therein.
The present invention further offers a workbench having aforesaid vise assemblies with their frame and a collapsible supporting structure on which the vise assemblies with their frame are mounted, wherein the supporting structure can be conveniently folded and expanded as desired, to facilitate easy storage when not in use.
Therefore, it is the main object of this invention to provide a workbench having a pair of vise assemblies mounted on a frame, for clamping regularly shaped and irregularly shaped articles.
It is another object of this invention to provide a workbench having a pair of vise assemblies mounted on a frame with each vise assembly having a movable jaw and a fixed jaw, wherein one vise assembly is movable towards and away from the other vise assembly which is fixed and arranged parallel to the movable vise assembly to provide a wide range of adaptability as to the size and shape of the article to be clamped therein.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a workbench that can be folded when not in use.